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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
Shelf >QA.& 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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LOOKING TOWARDS SUNSET 
Selections 

WARY G. CHENEY 




NEW YORK 

I.. P. 1/1 I H »N & COMI'ANY 

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The Library 
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Copyright, 
E. P. DUTTON & CO. 



Press of J. J. Little & Co. 
Astor Place, New York. 



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TO MY MOTHER. 

THESE FEW LEAVES ARK INSCRIBED. 



G. C. 



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HEARTS-EASE 

For I 

L< )( >KING TOWARDS SUNSET. 



ND stepping westward seemed to be 
A kind of Heavenly destiny. 



LfEAR not the westering shadows, 

O children of the day ! 
For brighter still and brighter, 

Shall be your homeward way. 
Resplendent as the morning 

With fuller glow and power, 
And clearer than the ooon-d ty 

shall be your -unset hour. 

I\ KM 



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LESS me, even me also, my Father. 

Genesis, xxvii. 34. 



THE INDIAN SUMMER OF LIFE. 

TN the life of the good man there is an Indian 
summer more beautiful than that of the seasons ; 
richer, sunnier and more sublime than the most 
glorious Indian summer the world ever knew — it is 
the Indian summer of the soul. When the glow of 
youth has departed, when the warmth of middle age 
is gone, and the buds and blossoms of spring are 
changing to the sere and yellow leaf ; when the 
mind of the good man, still vigorous, relaxes its 
labors, and the memories of a well-spent life gush 
forth from their secret fountains, enriching, rejoic- 
ing and fertilizing ; then the trustful resignation of 
the Christian sheds around a sweet and holy warmth, 
and the soul assuming a heavenly lustre, soars far 
beyond the winter of hoary age, and dwells peace- 
fully and happily upon the bright spring and sum- 
mer which await within the gates of Paradise ever- 
more. Let us strive for and look trustingly forward 
to an Indian summer like this. 

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LOOKING TOWARDS SUNSET. 7 

pzMs spirit to my spirit 

( Sweet words of comfort saith ; 
How God the weak one strengthens, 

Who leans on Him in faith : 
How He hath built a city 

Of love, and light, and song, 
Where the eye at last beholdeth 

What the heart had loved so long. 

Paul Gerhardt. 



jrjBIDE with us ; that we may sec Thee in every- 
j^ thing, and everything in Thee. Our joys and 
our 5U< cesses will not hurt us if Thou art in them. 
Our < ross< s and sorrows will not lie heavily upon 
US, if Thou art in them. Let us ^r.,w older under 
the .harm of Thy Presence. In time of sirkness 

and need, let us not have Thee to scrk. 

John PvLSFOKD. 

^TM) the Lord, He il is thai doth go before thee ; 

J^ He will be with thee, He will not fail thee. 

neither forsake thee : fear not, neither be dismayed 

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9Y?HAT can I do, but trust Thee, Lord ? 
^^ For Thou art God alone, 
My soul is safer in Thy hands, 
Father, than in my own. 



/!X O grow old is quite natural : being natural it is 
^-^^ beautiful ; and if we grumble at it, we miss 
the lesson, and lose all the beauty. 



TOUT, Lord, to-morrow, 
^~*^ What of to-morrow, Lord ? 
Did I not die for thee ? 
Do I not live for thee ? 
Leave me to-morrow. 



C. G. Rossetti. 



^"HE shining of the Lord's face — ah ! whoso 
^-^^ hath been bathed in that radiance divine 
need not envy the seraphs that burn in the Ineffa- 
ble Presence. The shining ! It is everywhere that 
faith is. 

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LOOKIXG TOWARDS SUNSET. Q 



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but lift mine eyes, my suit is made. 
Thou canst no more not hear, than thou canst 
die. 



GbOBCB Hiki.iki. 



/HPvY heart is fit to break, 

^^ With love of all Thy tenderness, 

For us poor sinners' sake. 



yOUR poor tired mind need have but one 
thought on the journey — " The Father Him- 
self loveth me ! " 



Z+ ^F are growing old ; 

V - A - / Going on through a beautiful road. 
Finding earth a nunc blessed abode ; 

Nobler work by our hands to 1"- wrought, 
Freer paths for our hope ami our thought 

Because of the beauty the years unfold, 

\\v ire ■ heerf illy growing old. 

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ORGET not my need Till I have gained 

Of Thy Fatherly pity, The Heavenly City. 



""JERUSALEM and Galilee— 
^ Thy love embraced not those alone, 

But also me, 

Thy little one. 

Lord, as Thou me, so would I Thee 
Love in pure love's communion, 

For Thou lov'st me, 

Thy little one. 



GVERY state and change of my life, notwith- 
standing my sin, hath opened to me treasures 
and mysteries of love; and after such a life of 
love, shall I doubt whether the same God do 
love me ? Did He love me in my youth and health ? 
And doth He not love me in my age and pain and 
sickness? Did He love all the faithful better in 
their life than at their death ? 

Baxter. 
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LOOA'IXG TOWARDS SUtfSET. 

TOE near me in mine hours of need, 
*—* To soothe, to cheer, or warn, 
And down these slopes of sunset lead 
As up the hills of morn. 



T »ET your constant prayer be, " Hold Thou me 
^-^ up, and I shall be safe." Let your daily pre- 
cept be, " Casting all your care upon Him, for He 
careth for you." And then leave God to fulfil, as 
most faithfully He will, His own gracious precious 
promise, " As thy days, so shall thy strength be." 



/"~TS year unto year is added, 

J^ And the twilight of life shall fall, 

May we grow to be more like Jesus, 

More tender and true to all. 

More patient in trial, more loving, 

More eager I lis truth to know, 
In the daily paths ol 1 n> i boosing 
More willing in faith t< 

B. Hkatii. 

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T evening time it shall be light. 

Zech. xiv. 7. 



A BEAUTIFUL THOUGHT. 

T WAS reading the other day, that on the shores 
of the Adriatic Sea the wives of the fishermen, 
whose husbands have gone far off upon the deep, 
are in the habit, at eventide, of going down to the 
sea-shore, and singing the first stanza of a beautiful 
hymn ; after they have sung it, they will listen till 
they hear, borne by the wind across the desert sea, 
the second stanza sung by their husbands, as they 
are tossed by the gale upon the wave, and both are 
happy. Perhaps, if we could listen, we, too, might 
hear on this desert world of ours, some sound, some 
whisper borne from afar, to remind us that there is 
a heaven and a home ; and when we sing the hymn 
upon the shores of earth, perhaps we shall hear its 
echo breaking in music upon the sands of time, and 
cheering the hearts of those that are pilgrims and 
strangers, and look for a city that hath foundation. 

Dr. John Cumming. 
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LOOKING TOWARDS SUNSET. 13 

j^JRT thou afraid to trust Him, 
J Seeming so far away 5 

Wherefore then not keep closer — 
Close, as He says we may ? 

Wherefore then not walk beside Him 

Holding His blessed hand ; 
Patiently walking onward 

All through the weary land ? 

Anna Warner. 



IN my Father's house there are many mansions. 
St. John, xiv. 2. 

SAYS a venerable divine: "As we advance in 
life, so many whom we loved and honored are 
translated to the other side, it seems sometimes as if 

Heaven would be more familiar and home-like to us 
than earth. We do not go when we die to a land 

of strangers, but to one where scores of <>ur best 
friends are occupying mansions, in which they mil 

welcome us as < urdially, and entertain us as hospita- 
bly and lovingly as they used tO in their earthly 

horn 

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T /.EAN on Jesus, and He will rest you. Live for 
Jesus and your soul shall mount up as on an 
eagle's wing ; you shall run and never weary, you 
shall walk arm in arm with Him and never faint. 

T. L. CUYLER. 



}^IRED ? No, not tired ! 

While leaning on His breast, 
My soul hath full enjoyment 
Of His eternal rest. 



>^HE youthful John, leaning on the bosom of 
his Lord, seems a saintly character. But we 
do not discover the strength of a full-grown and 
triumphant spirit until we have seen the aged John 
at Patmos. Banished and alone, stricken with full 
ninety years, he could not be banished from the 
presence of his Saviour, or despoiled of his immortal 
soul growth. 

TN the life to come, which fades not away, 
Every love shall abide. 

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LOOKING TOWARDS SUXSET. 15 

/^VEN to your old age I am He, and even to 
^"^ hoar hairs will I carry you ; I have made, 
and I will bear ; even I will carry, and will deliver 
you. 



/^^OD'S presence is enough for toil and enough 
^^^ for rest. If He journey with us by the way, 
He will abide with us when nightfall comes, and His 
companionship will be sufficient for direction on the 
road, and for solace and safety in the evening camp. 



/^\F one thing the child of God may be sure : the 
^" > ^ best things in God's plans for him are still 
in the future, and if there was any good in the days 
of old which is now lacking to him, that also shall 
be restored, or shall be bettered to him. 

Tmnuuu. 



'jTl N 1 ) thine age shall be clearer than the DOOQ- 
J day, thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be M 

the morning. 

\\. 17. 

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>j^HERE remaineth, therefore, a rest to the peo- 
ple of God. Now blessed be Paul for that 
one word — rest. It makes one feel like a child in 
the evening of a summer's day, and it makes one's 
death-bed as soft to think of as going to sleep. 



/HTvY Father's house that I have not seen ! 
^*^ Little I care what its beauties are — 
Whether its fields are always green, 

Or the hills are golden that gleam afar ; — 
Only I know One waiteth there 

Whom mine eyes have wearied long to see ; 
And the country must needs be wondrous fair 

Where Christ the Lord shall welcome me. 



OOMEWHERE, safely hidden, lost in light, 
Our good country lies — Immanuel's land ; 

Earn'd for us and soon to bless our sight. 
Anchor'd fast to God, a radiant strand, 
O my heart's desire — Immanuel's land. 



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LOOKING TOWARDS SUNSET. 17 

WILL be patient now, 

I tear Heavenly Father, waiting here for Thee ; 
know the darkness holds Thee. Shall I be 
Afraid when it is Thou ? 



7a?HAT is our death but a night's sleep ? For as 
^- KJ through sleep all weariness and faintness 
pass away and cease, and the power of the spirit 
comes back again, so that in the morning we arise 
fresh and joyous ; so at the last day we shall rise 
again, as if we had only slept a night, and shall be 
fresh and strong. 

MnKTIS I.riMKi;. 

y^ZT HK friends that started with me, have entered 

long 
One by one they left me, struggling with the foe ; 
Their pilgrimage uaa shorter, tln-ir victory sooner 

won ; 

How lovingly they'll hail me when all my toil is 
done. 



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THE CELESTIAL CITY. 

Y^\OW while they were thus drawing towards the 
^ gate, behold a company of the heavenly host 
came out to meet them ; to whom it was said, by 
the other two Shining Ones, these are the men that 
have loved our Lord when they were in the world, 
and that have left all for His holy name ; and He 
hath sent us to fetch them, and we have brought 
them thus far on their desired journey, that they 
may go in and look their Redeemer in the face with 
joy. , Then the heavenly host gave a great shout, 
saying, " Blessed are they which are called unto the 
marriage supper of the Lamb." 

Now, when they were come up to the gate, there 
was written over it in letters of gold, " Blessed are 
they that do His commandments, that they may 
have right to the tree of life, and may enter in 
through the gates into the city." 

Now, just as the gates were opened to let in the 
men, I looked in after them, and, behold, the city 
shone like the sun ; the streets also were paved with 
gold, and in them walked many men, with crowns 

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LOOKING TOWARDS SUNSET. 19 



on their heads ; palms in their hands, and golden 
harps to sing praises withal. And after that they 
shut up the gates ; which, when I had seen, I wished 
myself among them. 



Pilgrim's Progress.' 



UA RTHER on ! How much farther ? 

Count the milestones one by one. 
No : no counting — only trusting 
It is better farther on ! 



TN the eves of the world, old age is the saddest 

tiling to look forward to. Men talk mournfully 

of " declining years," of "failing powers." Not so 

the Christian! The gray hairs which so many 
lament arc his crown of n j<>i< ing. If his feel have 
lost their swiftness, and his hands forgotten their 

cunning, he 1 ares not ; for the " Everlasting Arms " 

ring him up along the mountain path, and 

the hands which can no longer wrorls shall be sus- 
tained in angels, .is he spreads them out in 1 • 



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r^EAUTIFUL gate of Life ! 

Gate at the end of the way ! 
Well worth day's toil and strife, 

For that hour at the end of the day. 

Mrs. Charles. 



Y~\0, you are not going "down hill," you are pil- 
grims going up and up, ever higher and 
higher, towards the city which God has prepared 
for you. You turn round sometimes, and look back 
along the way you have come, and behold, the set- 
ting sun is shining into every corner of it, and light- 
ing up even the dark and desolate spots, into 
warmth and glow and beauty, and then you go on 
again, cheered and strengthened by the sight of all 
His past mercies to you. 



^T HERE'S nae sorrow there, 

There's neither cauld nor care, 
The day is aye fair 

In the Land o' the Leal. 

Lady Nairn. 

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LOOKING TOWARDS SUNSET. 21 



n 



E leadeth on, Out of the shadows, 

Through the clouds, Out of the night, 



Toward the light ; He leadeth on. 

1. 11 



TF this is the only thing foretold 
I >! all my future — then I pray, 
That quietly watchful, 1 may hold 

The key of a golden faith, each day, 
Fast shut in my grasp, that when I hear 
His step, be it dawn, or midnight dim, 
Straightway I may rise without a fear, 
And open immediately to Him ! 

Margaju 1 P 



TT has been well till now, be sure it shall be well 

to the end. You have not a changing God to 

deal with; remember that. Shall the God of OUI 

Childhood, who mused us when we could not help 

oureeli is when we come to old age? It 

1 annot I"-. 

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TN the Mussulman devotions, one constant gesture 
is to put the hands to the east, as if to listen for 
the messages from the other world. This is the 
attitude, the posture which our minds assume, if we 
have a standing-place above and beyond the stir 
and confusion and dissipation of this mortal world. 

Arthur P. Stanley. 



^TLONE? The God we trust is on that shore, 
J The faithful One, whom we have trusted 

more 

In trials and in woes, 

Than we have trusted those 
On whom we leaned most in our earthly strife ; 
Oh ! we shall trust Him more in that new life. 

Alone ? The God we love is on that shore ; 
Love not enough, yet whom we love far more, 

And whom we loved all through 

And with a love more true 
Than other loves — yet now shall love Him more ; 
True love of Him begins upon that shore ! 

F. W. Faber. 

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LOOKING TOWARDS SUNSET. -•> 

Ql'l'TOSE God were building a palace for you, 

^ and had set up a scaffold upon which He 

! you to help Him; would it be reasonable 

in you to complain that you didn't find the scaffold 

at all a comfortable place to live in ? — that it was 

draughty and cold ? This world is that scaffold ; and 

if you were busy carrying stones and mortar for the 

palace, you would be glad of all the cold to cool 

the ylow of your labor. 

Gso. Macdonald. 



0< )\I E day, He will tell you why He has tried you, 

**-* and let you look back upon your life-Story 

and see the golden thread of His fatherly love and 

care shining over and around it all, DOt as it is now, 
winding in and out and only seen by glimpses. 



/^n >D i erred yet, either in guiding a star 

^^ m its orbit, or in directing the chaff from the 
winnower's hand, and He cannot err in steering the 
i A one "i his < bildren. 



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24 HEARTS-EASE FOR THOSE 

T /.ET us cling to our Father in heaven, as a child 
^-^ walking in the night clings to his father's 
hand. 

Charles Kingsley. 



Y~\0 one can ever stray 

* ^ Who seeks his fatherland on high 

Along the cross-marked way. 



y~*\0 difficulties in your case can baffle Him. No 
^ dwarfing of your growth in years that are 
past, no apparent dryness of your inward springs of 
life, no crookedness or deformity in any of your 
past development, can in the least mar the perfect 
work that He will accomplish, if you will only put 
yourselves absolutely into his hands, and let Him 
have His own way with you. 



T DO not myself believe there is any misfortune. 

What men call such is merely the shadow-side 

of a good. 



Geo. Macdonald. 



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LOOKING TOWARDS SUNSET. 25 

TT^RAYER is the key that God has put into our 
^ hands, to put us in communication with the 
unseen world. We have everything with it, without 
it we have nothing. 

Adolphe Monod. 



"T^UT the vision of God as He is, to see the King 

in His beauty, is vouchsafed not to science, 
nor to talent, but only to purity and love. 

Robertson. 

/Y\ANY waters cannot quench His love, neither 
- - can the floods drown it." It never faileth, 
either in time ur eternity. 

j. Wi 

C^ II ALL the gray heads droop and pine when 
^ they think of the joys that are gone ? No, UO. 
" Look up and lift up your heads, for yours shall be 

the fulness of joy for evermore." Sweet as .ire the 
memories of your past joys, they cannot I"- com- 

1 with the joys that are to come. 

1 I 

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26 HEARTS-EASE FOR THOSE 

T WILL strengthen thee : yea, I will help thee. 

JL Isaiah, xli. 10. 



yET, despite the follies and failures, — happy ! 
For the sins are covered with the hand of 
Christ. Very low, very unworthy, very shame faced 
for the life — for the ills we have done, and the good 
that we have not done — but in spite of all that — 
Forgiven ! 

T£)EMEMBER, there is One upon whom His 
X cross was laid when He was weak, even to 
faintness, and yet, of whom we are told that with- 
out one repining word, " He went forth, bearing 
His Cross." He cannot then, although now in 
Heaven, ever forget that hour on earth, and never 
does He see a weak and fainting sufferer, upon whom 
fresh trials are accumulating, and fresh crosses laid, 
without calling to mind that heavy cross, and that 
toilsome journey up Mount Calvary, or without 
stretching forth a hand to help and succor him. 

Henry Blunt. 



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L00K1XG TOWARDS SIX SET. 27 

y^l HERE is only one kind of sorrow which pains 
^-^ us when we look back at it, and that is the 
memory of sin. It must be a pain and grief we 
shall carry with us to the very gates of Paradise, to 
think of the many times we have grieved our loving 
Lord, and "put Him to an open shame." 

Fkum "The Perfect Day." 



TT is a terrible and perilous thing to take the work 
of the training of our souls out of God's hands 
into our own. The pruning knife in His hands 
must sometimes wound and seem to impoverish; 
but in ours it ruts and wounds, and impoverishes, 
and does not prune. We I an indeed inflict pain on 

ourselves, but God, alone, can make pain healing, or 
suffering, discipline. 



yOU know there is a text which Bays, " I live, 
yet not I, bat ( "hri>t livelh in me." I I ; 
friend, will VOU take this question home. Who has 
I !i ri^t in me to-d 

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28 HEARTS-EASE FOR THOSE 

yOU see God is tender — just like the prodigal 
son's father — only with this difference, that 
God has millions of prodigals, and never gets tired 
of going out to meet them and welcome them back, 
every one as if he were the only prodigal son He 
had ever had. 

s^lRE you sorrowful? Remember He who is at 
J the Father's side, the Crucified, has in his 

practical sympathy with you, actually trodden this 
pathway of yours. That God has seen it is consoling, 
but that Christ has trodden it is richest comfort. 
You may see all along the way the blood-stained 
footsteps of Him who gave His feet to the nails. 
Right down to Jordan's brink, and through the 
flood, and up the hither shore, there are the marks 
of the goings of Him who loved you and bore your 
sorrows in His own person for your sake. 



© 



HE law of the Cross is the truth, the rock 
truth, but only in the person of Christ. 



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LOOKING TOWARDS SUNSET. 29 



^""HINK you that your prayers will get what 
^-^ Christ's did not — what you wish ? Nay. but 
something better than what you wish — what God 
wills. Is that not better ? Which was better, that 
the cup should pass from the Redeemer, or that 
He should have strength to drink it ? The true 
value of prayer is not this — to bend the Eternal 
Will to ours ; but this — to bend our wills to It. 
Not as I will, but as Thou wilt. 

! . W. K I 1 BTSOH. 



T ,1.T us always remember that holiness does nol 
■*— *• consist in doing uncommon things, but in 
doing everything with purity of heart 



Cakdinai ' 



yOU have travelled with the Lord 50 long and BO 
far, His word is si. plain and s<> positive, and 
you have always proved him so true, tl. 

are sure He will never fail you. And now, though 

ipassed with infirmities, you can still do little 

things for Him. Cheer on the younger soldiers, 

and Bpeak bright words for Jesus. 



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"p\OES your spirit faint ? The precious promises 
are a dropping honeycomb, better than Jona- 
than's. Dip your pilgrim staff into their richness, 
and put your hand to your mouth, like him, and 
your faintness shall pass away. Are you overcome 
by the sultry burden of the day ? They are as the 
shadow of a cloud to bring down the heat ; as the 
cool shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Are 
you sad ? There are no such songs to beguile the 
road, and to bear you on with gladness of heart. 
Put but a promise under your head by night, and 
were your pillow a stone, like that at Bethel, you 
shall have Jacob's vision. The thirstiest wilderness 
will become an Elim, with palm trees and wells of 
water. 

C. Geikie. 

yOU can never see past the Lord, to know where 
He is taking you ; you may just as well close 
your eyes ! His garment spreads over all the road, 
and what we have to do is to hold a good grip of it, 
not to try and see beyond it. 

Macdonald. 







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LOOKING TOWARDS SUNSET. 3 1 

F you wish your neighbors to see what God is 
like, let them see what He can make w// like. 

Charles Kinc.sley. 



T^vON'T you know that those very infirmities 
which makes you impatient with yourself, 
Jesus feels, Jesus commiserates, Jesus will sol ten ! 
He that hath carried all thy sins, carrietb also thy 
sorrows. Doth He not say so ? Even to your old age 
I am He ; and even to hoar hairs I will (any you. 

ROl III H WVM-h. 



T~ \ON'T trail your Lord's banner in the dust of 

despondency and gloom ; but as the twilight 

falls, ( ling mure I losely to Him, that you DQ 

the clasp of His arms aboul you; with the child- 
heart, looking trustingly into your Father's ia< e, take 
up the refrain of the standard -bearer of old, "Con- 
quering by the sign of the Cross," and with joyful 
. though it maj be with we i i shall 

enter into the Golden City, < onquerors through Hun 

that hath loved yOU tO the end. 

M (. ' 

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32 HEARTS-EASE FOR THOSE 



D 



ESERT may not touch His shoe-tie, 
Love may kiss His feet. 



L-^E can protect you from misfortunes ; but if He 
( wants you to serve Him in trouble, it is be- 
cause He can make trouble do more for you than 
prosperity. " Rest in the Lord." 



y^ HOUGH God has promised always to guide 
His inquiring children in the way that is 
right, He has nowhere promised to make this way 
now seem right to their friends or neighbors, or 
even to themselves. 

Halyburton. 



T «ET your prayer be like this : O Maker of me, 
■^""^ go on making me, and let me help Thee. 
Come, O Father ! here I am ; let us go on. I know 
my words are those of a child, but it is Thy child 
who prays to Thee — it is Thy dark I walk in ; it is 
Thy hand I hold ! 

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LOOA'IXG TOWARDS SUNSET. 33 



VERYTHING wears out but the Lord's love. 



yOL" have never been forsaken yet. No, and 
you never will. You have known many 
believers, you have seen them in deep trials, in 
strange conflicts, in peculiar difficulties ; but did 
you ever see them forsaken ? 

Jaws Smith. 



t 



/^ () prepare for death, is not to chase one bright 
^^ thing from life's pathway, is not to ignore one 
strong affection, it is not to give up one true pleas- 
ure, or to make believe that a hitter thing is pleas- 
ant to take. That is the glorious side of this truth ! 

The Christian watchfulness which our Lord com- 

Is, is not a timid, twittering apprehensiveness ! 

It does not mean that we shall constantly he asking 

in awe-struck whispers, "Is He coming?" "Is He 

coming?" This watchfulness simply means that 

we faithfully are doing our every-day duty, every 

"Tin 

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34 HEARTS-EASE FOR THOSE 



/^ AST me not off in the time of old age ; forsake 
^""^ me not when my strength faileth. 

Psalm lxxi. 9. 



TF I were told that I must die to-morrow, 

^ What should I do ? 

I do not think that I would shrink or falter, 

But just go on 
Doing my work, nor change nor seek to alter 

Aught that is gone. 
But rise, and serve, and love, and smile, and pray, 

For one more day. 
And lying down at night for a last sleeping, 

Say in that ear 
Which hearkens ever, " Lord, in Thy keeping 

How should I fear?" 

Susan Coolidge. 



T^E asks you so lovingly, " Believest thou this ?" 
' the blessed truth, that death is not death to 
the Christian, as men count dying. 



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LOOKING TOWARDS SUNSET. 35 



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O not conclude that the promise of God failed 
because your plan miscarried. 



O. P. Fitzgerald, 



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ET God have you, out and out ! 



TV? HAT matter where the region of the dead may 

^-^ be ! Nowhere but here are they called the 

dead. When, of all paths, that to God is alone 

always open, and alone can lead the wayfarer to the 

end of his journey, why should 1 stoop to peer 

through the fence either side of the path? If He 

does not care to reveal it, is it well I should make 

haste to know ? 1 shall know one day, why Bhould 

1 be eager to know now ? 

Geo. Mm BOH U D. 



I WOULD sooner walk in the dark and hold hard 
to a promise of my Cod, than trust in the light 
of the brightest day that ever dawned. 

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3 6 HEARTS-EASE FOR THOSE 



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O the child of God the best things are always, 
before him, not behind. 



TX OLD fast to this ! When death came to Christ, 
/ it was seen to be not the end of life, but only 
an event in life. It did not close His being, but it 
was only an experience which that being underwent. 
He passed into it for love of us, and as He came 
out from it He declared its nature. It is an expe- 
rience of life, not an end of life. Life goes on 
through it and comes out unharmed. Look at Me I 
I am He that liveth, and was dead ! 

Phillips Brooks. 



^HE light is not blinding because God would 
hide, but because the truth is too glorioles for 
our vision. 



/^O the strong and beautiful city of Heaven there 
is but one gate, and no other. Do you know 
what it is ? Christ says : "lam the door." 



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LOOKIXG TOWARDS SUNSET. 37 

Y^OW see what Jesus does for us by Hi> resur- 
^ ^ rection. Having the keys of death and lull. 
He comes to us as we are drawing near to death, 
and He opens the doors on both sides ot it, ami lets 
us look through it, and shows us immortality. Not 
merely He lives forever, but so shall we; for us, too, 
death shall be not an end but an experience ; and 
beyond it for us, just as for Him, stretches immor- 
tality. Because He lives we shall live also ' 

Phillips Brooks. 



T -ET me speak to them of my Master. I have 
*— * serve.! him for more than thirty years ; my 

head has become -ray in His service, but 1 have 

tted m\ < hOM e. 1 have been a poor 

servant ; I have a thousand infirmities on my head, 
and sins on my conscience, for which I look for 
pardon only through the blood of Christ ; bul poor- 
servant as I have been, I can stand up this night 
Master, and Bay Christ has d, and 

id gnu ious Master to me. 

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3 8 HEARTS-EASE FOR THOSE 



/q HY pilgrim staff is bent and old, 

Thy sandals poor and worn, 
Thy garments gray and travel-stained, 
Thy red- cross banner torn. 

Yet patient wait— thy pilgrim staff 

A waving palm shall be ; 

Thy sandals gold, thy garments white, 

Thy banner victory. 

K. h. j. 

^YJHAT did I hear thee say ? " If I should be 
mistaken ! If I should presume ! " How 
can you be mistaken ? Do you not renounce all 
hope in yourself, all dependence on your duties, and 
do you not trust on Christ alone ? Have you not 
sought His face, relied on His word, trusted in His 
blood ? 

James Smith. 



C~\ T MAKE me patient. Lord, 

* Patient in daily cares ; 
Keep me from thoughtless words 
That slip out unawares. 



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LOOk'IXG TOWARDS SUNSET. 39 



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OR I know that my Redeemer liveth. 

Job xix, 25. 



f? 



E goes before ! And so we may not look 
Backward at all. but onward evermore. 

I. H. F. 



TT)RESUME, didst thou say? Is it presumption 
*—» to believe thy Saviour? [sit presumption to 

take Cod at His word, and give him credit for 
speaking truth ? "Presumption!" It is presump- 
tion to doubt when God has spoken so plainly. It 
is presumption to fear, when God has spoken so 
positively. It is presumption to want something 

assure thee, when God has said : " He that 
believeth hath everlasting lite ; " and to you : " Be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou s/ni/t be 

saved." 

1 Smith. 



t -ET Him mark you as His by whatever marks 

J-* He will. 

I'm:; I 

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4° HEARTS-EASE FOR THOSE 

T~>E patient with your pains and cares. We 
^-^ know it is easy to say, and hard to do. But 
there is no pain or care that can last long. A 
little while and you shall leave behind you your 
troubles, and forget in your first sweet hour of rest 
that such things were on earth. None of them shall 
enter the City of God. 



•XRUE the river is wide and deep, and the valley 
^~^ is full of shadows, and your friends must 
leave you at the river's brink, but never are you 
less alone, than in this last strange stage of your 
journey to the City of Peace, for God is with you 
then. Jesus is more close to you than ever before, 
and where He will go with you, you need never fear 
to go. Now, at last, is your will perfectly one 
with His. You have quite ended the warfare against 
self-will, which has been the hardest trial of your 
journey. You lie powerless, unresisting, in the hol- 
low of His hand. " Why then should you faint or 
fear ? " 

From the " Perfect Day." 

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LOOKING TOWARDS SUNSET. \\ 

T JET the prospect of a dwelling " in the house of 
the Lord forever," reconcile thee to any of 
ighnesses or difficulties in thy present path,— 

lead thee to forget the intervening billows, or to 

think of them only as wafting thee nearer and 

nearer to thy desired haven. 



1. R. M 



B 



UT patience was willing to wait. 



T CANNOT tell how the living tree gets it< flower 

and fruit from the dead substance in which it 
is rooted and on which it feeds ; how much less can 
I tell how the wounds, the blood, the death, of 
Christ give life to the soul dead in trespasses and 
sin, and clothe it with the fruitage of holiness. 
< »i now can I tell the end of this divine work, 
when the Giver of spiritual life shall crown it with 

i ri.il ? When dust and ashes, this body shall 

spring from its sej.ui. hre and appear in the glorified 

body of th on ? 

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42 HEARTS-EASE FOR THOSE 


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f [S an old writer quaintly says, " He leads us in, 








J He leads us through, He leads us up, He 










leads us home ! " 








T~3EH0LD upon the land and sea, 
^~^ In every tribe and nation, 
















Glad, busy hands are fashioning 










The stones for its foundation. 










One buildeth here, another there, 










Each bringeth precious treasure ; 










Some bear the load, some place the stones, 










Each working in his measure. 

K. H. J. 








t^\ONE of His servants does He disappoint in 
^ death. All find riches there, more than they 
















looked for, both in kind and in degree. 










F. W. Faber. 








T~>E as a little child. Children have no cares ; all 
^~*^ is managed for them, and they rest safe and 
















happy in their fathers' care. 

St. Francis De Sales. 






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LOOKIXG TOWARDS SUNSET. 43 



K 



EEP the home near Heaven. Let it face 

toward the Father's house. 

Jambs Hamu 



yOU have walked together through the years 
that are past, you and your Saviour. When 
the dark days came, it was He who upheld you, as it 
was He who made the joy of your " pleasant p] 
Do you think He will leave you when the river is 
just before you, and the walls of the City are in 
view' Nay, for in that hour shall 1 1 i^ glorious 
presence overshadow thee, and with His own right 
hand shall He lead you within the gates, and you 
shall be with Him forever at home. 



U 



BARN that to love is the one way to know 

( )r ( rod, Or man. 






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LESS ED are the homesick, for they Bhall at 
la->t come to the Father's bouse. 



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44 HEARTS-EASE EOR THOSE 

j^RULY, it is a glorious thing to follow the Lamb ; 
^-^^ 'tis the highway to glory ; but when you see 
Him in His own country, at home, you will think 
you never saw Him before. 



T~"\0 you ask who will meet you in the City so 
^~^ strange to you ; who will receive you, and 
show you its wondrous streets of gold, and the river 
clear as crystal which is in the midst of her ? Ah ! 
a glorious company indeed, are waiting for you on 
Jordan's farther side, but foremost of all the shin- 
ing throng is He, in whose glorious presence the 
others are all forgotten and unseen. 



7iYHAT a happy meeting and blessed welcome 
X - KJ wait the wanderer at his Father's house. 
When one has been long and far away from an 
earthly home, what a happy sight to see brothers 
and sisters all crowding to the door to bring us in ! 
What is that but a dim image of what will be seen 
at the gates of glory ? 

■4 ®± 



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LOOKING TOWARDS SIX SET. 45 



P^EAVEN will be no strange place to us when 

* { we get there. We shall not be oppressed 

by the cold, shy, chilly feeling that we know noth- 

»£ our companions. We- shall feel at home. 



J. C. RVLE. 



]TTH : the way is shining clearer, 

J * As we journey ever nearer 

To the everlasting home ; 
Comrades, who await our landing, 
Friends, who round the throne are standing, 

We salute you, ami we come. 



t JET us then learn that we can never be lonely 

*-* or tor>aken in this lite. Shall they forj 

e they are' made perfect "? shall they love 

us the l'-s. because they now have power to love 

re : It we forget them not, shall they not 

remember us with God? No trial, then, can isolate 

us, no sorrow can cut us off from the Communion 

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46 HEARTS-EASE FOR THOSE 

T^RAISE God the shepherd is so sweet ! 

^~* Praise God the country is so fair ! — 

We could not hold them from His feet, — 

We can but haste to meet them there. 

B. M. 



/^HINK of it ! the loving Christ, and the living 
Father, and the innumerable company of the 
angels, and the unseen compassing about of friends 
gone in there ! 



Mrs. Whitney. 



ONLY ask to find His blessed arms 
My safe retreat. 



'/ [ND then, there is the bliss of the world to 
J come, ever brightening, ever growing nearer, 

for " The day will never endure so long, but at 
length the evening cometh," and in the evening, 
you know, people go home and cease from their 
labors, and find rest, and take sweet counsel with 
their beloved ones. 



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LOOA'/.YG TOWARDS SLA SET. 47 



T^VROPPING down the eddying river, 
*^ With a Helmsman true and tried ; 
Dropping down a perilous river — 
Mortality's dark river 

With a sure and Heavenly Guide ; 
Even Him, who, to deliver 

My soul from death, hath died ; 

O Helmsman, true and tried I 



yOU'VE seen the sky all black and covered 
with the thi< k clouds— that's like our sins ; 
but—" I have blotted out as a thick cloud, tin- 
transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins." \ OH know 
how it is, when the wind COmeS and dean the 

clouds all off, and you can look up through the 

blue, till it Beems as if your eye would win into 

M ren itself. Keep the sky - lear, so that jrou 
can always see up straight to God, with never the 
fleck of a cloud between. But do you know what 
will .har the clouds away? (July the precious 

blood of Christ. 

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^ -$+ 

48 HEARTS-EASE. 

"T)UT the rest there as here, will be the presence 
^"^ of God, and if we have Him with us, the 
battle-field will be — if not quiet, yet as full of peace 
as the night of stars. 



*.y 



T'M kneeling at the threshold, weary, faint, and 

sore ; 
Waiting for the dawning, for the opening of the 

door ; 
Waiting till the Master shall bid me rise and come 
To the glory of His presence, to the gladness of 

His home ! 



I'LL tell you what the Lord is — tender to the aged 
and the little ones, pitiful to the sick and weak, 
abundant in mercy to the sinners, and the Saviour 
of them that's appointed to die. 



o 



FATHER ! bless in love Thy child ! 
We lay us down to sleep. 



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